1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a coaxial connector that is connectable to a port and, more particularly, to a coaxial connector that electrically connects separate wires in a two-wire cable at the port. The invention is further directed to a method of connecting a two-wire cable to such a coaxial connector.
2. Background Art
Connecting ports for coaxial cable exist in many different environments and for many purposes. Typically, the port will have a male component that is electrically connected with a surrounding ground contact portion on the female portion of a coaxial connector. A conductive pin, centered within, and surrounded by, the ground contact portion, is brought into electrical contact with another conductive component that terminates at the port. As just examples, the connecting port may be at a drop or splice location.
In some applications, separate wires in a two-wire cable, often referred to as parallel conductors, a twisted pair, lamp cord, etc., are each electrically connected at the port to transmit signals, as between electronic devices. For example, a two-wire cable is often used to transmit audio signals from a CD player to a receiver. Thus, it is common to electrically connect the two-wire cable at such a port using a coaxial connector.
Many different techniques have been devised to attach a two-wire cable to a coaxial connector for attachment in turn at a port. Generally, these techniques have been relatively labor intensive. It is known to maintain these electrical connections by soldering, as shown for example in U.S. Pat. No. 4,397,516, to Koren et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,039,609, to Hauver, Sr. et al, discloses electrical connections maintained through “seizure screws”. These types of connections require extra components and assembly steps that potentially account for longer installation times. Additionally, the integrity of the connections may be different, from one to the next, depending upon the care taken by the installer.
Further, some of these prior art connectors are made with an extended construction in both axial and radial directions to accommodate the components required to effect the electrical connections. Dimensional control is almost always a goal in the design of these components.
Ideally, a coaxial connector would be provided that would allow efficient and consistently high integrity connections to be made between a port and a two-wire cable, without requiring any significant dimensional increase over conventional coaxial connectors used for joining coaxial cable to such a port.